Apple scoops up Shazam for a musical score

Apple on Monday confirmed its acquisition of music recognition app Shazam, saying it’s “thrilled” to be gaining one of the consistently most popular apps in its App Store.

“Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users,” the company said in a statement. “We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.”

The company didn’t disclose financial details, such as a purchase price. Last week, TechCrunch reported Apple was close to buying Shazam for an amount in the hundreds of millions; one unnamed person pegged the purchase price at about £300 million, or roughly $401 million.

Apple’s proclamation of the Shazam deal is atypical for a company that keeps most of its takeovers hush-hush. Though it pales in comparison with the company’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats, the Shazam move is also part of Apple’s push to beef up its services like Apple Music, which has long played second fiddle to Spotify in attracting subscribers.